Leaked Curaçao Files Link Dutch Entrepreneur to Blaze and Large Reported Balances

Follow the Money has linked Dutch entrepreneur Nick van Gorsel and his US business partner Nicholas Beugg to the Curaçao corporate structure behind online gambling brand Blaze, based on leaked Curaçaose licensing dossiers published on 14 October 2026. The documents include declarations of income and declared net worth attributed to Van Gorsel for 2024, and financial summaries for the company and its digital wallets dating to 2022 and 2023.

Owners, structures and the Curaçaose filings

The FTM report asserts that Nick van Gorsel and Nicholas Beugg are the individuals behind the Curaçao corporate vehicle operating Blaze. Van Gorsel was born in 1996 in Bergen op Zoom, according to the files. The Curaçaose company named in the investigation is Prolific Trade N.V. The trust and corporate services provider Emoore is identified in the dossiers as acting in roles including director and service provider.

The publication rests on material from Casino Secrets, a cache of confidential licensing documents related to the Curaçao Gaming Authority. Those documents record the persons presented as ultimate beneficial owners and the way Blaze was described to the Curaçaose regulator during licence procedures.

Reported personal and corporate figures in the dossiers

FTM reports that Van Gorsel declared an annual income of €50,000,000 and an approximate net worth of €800,000,000 for 2024 in filings to the Curaçao Gaming Authority. The leaked corporate overviews attributed to Blaze include claims of hundreds of millions of euros of profit in 2022 and 2023. The publication also records that the casino’s digital wallets held nearly €860,000,000 in cryptocurrencies in 2023.

The dossiers and FTM’s reporting emphasise distinctions between types of sums: declared personal income, declared net worth, reported corporate profit figures and cryptocurrency balances. A crypto wallet balance is not presented in the documents as synonymous with annual profit or the private wealth of a single individual; the files and the reporting treat those as separate categories.

Past US matter and Curaçao’s response

FTM also recounts an earlier US inquiry involving Nicholas Beugg. The report states that a 2017 check found nearly $600,000 in cash and that the matter was closed in 2020 with the funds returned. FTM says the Curaçaose licence file discussed a possible identity mix-up but that public records and court papers indicate the same person was involved.

The Curaçao Gaming Authority did not comment substantively on the individual licence file due to confidentiality obligations, and it referred to the transition period for the tightened licensing regime as context for its position, according to FTM.

Complaints, claims and Brazil’s regulatory shift

FTM cites more than 43,000 complaints about Blaze on consumer platform Reclame Aqui in October, primarily alleging unpaid balances and withheld winnings. The numbers indicate consumer dissatisfaction but are not judicial findings of wrongdoing: complaints, legal claims and final court rulings remain distinct, the files and the report underline.

The Brazilian Ministério da Fazenda confirmed measure 1.394/2026 of 25 September 2026, which bans the operation, offering, intermediation and advertising of fixed-odds wagers. The measure covers sports betting and online casino games even when foreign operators target persons in Brazil, while excluding certain lottery formats. The official Brazilian guidance sets phased implementation dates: new funds were barred and websites and apps were to become unavailable according to a timetable that required sites to be inaccessible from 6 October 2026.

FTM reports that Brazil’s public prosecutor sought about 380 million reais in damages from Blaze in July, which FTM converts to roughly €65 million, and that there is a separate claim of roughly €20 million involving influencer Virginia Fonseca. Those figures are reported claims; the leaked material does not show final judicial awards.

Marketing, influencers and the public face of the brand

FTM’s dossier describes Blaze’s expansion in Brazil through promotion by high-profile figures. The footballer Neymar was publicly visible as a brand ambassador. Other named influencers in the report include Felipe Neto and Jon Vlogs. FTM links Van Gorsel and Beugg to the Curaçaose structure behind the brand Jonbet, and notes that Jon Vlogs is not listed as the ultimate beneficial owner in the inspected documents.

The reporting stresses that a visible promoter is not necessarily the legal owner, and that an ultimate beneficial owner can be financially decisive while remaining absent from public-facing advertising.

Responses and outstanding questions

Blaze has denied earlier allegations of misconduct, while a company spokesperson declined to comment for the new FTM report on corporate structures, ownership and private data. Emoore declined on confidentiality grounds. Van Gorsel reportedly answered: > "Wij beantwoorden geen vragen." The absence of fuller replies leaves elements of the dossier unexplained in public reporting.

The leaked dossiers assemble several distinct threads: the names given as owners, the financial declarations, the role of a Curaçaose regulator and the scale of consumer complaints and legal claims. Which of these items will be subject to regulatory or judicial findings remains a matter for the relevant authorities and courts.

What Belgian readers should note

The Brazilian prohibition and a Curaçaose licence do not alter Belgian law. Holding a Curaçaose licence does not automatically permit offering services to Belgian players; local authorisation determines that permission. Gambling Club’s prior coverage compares foreign licences with local regulatory requirements and the Belgian blacklist of illegal sites. The presence of a brand or a well-known promoter does not by itself establish the legal operator or the supervising regulator.

For journalists and industry observers, the Blaze files are a concentrated case about how corporate structures, marketing and regulatory jurisdictions intersect when a gambling brand expands internationally.